Claiming to Love is easy….the Evidences for Love

Bismillah, assolatu wassalamu ala rasulillahi

Below is a very brief set of 7 signs of Love for Allah, as mentioned by Imam Ghazali; I’ve summarised it in a very brief manner for easy reference and recall, where required.

1) No loathing of death. No friend dislikes the sight of the Friend.
2) To prefer what is loved by Allah over what is loved by the self/mankind etc, when asked whether you love Allah, remain silent. For to answer ‘no’ can be tantamount to disbelief, to answer ‘yes’ would be unlike the genuine lovers of Allah.
3) To remember Him frequently. Object of love is always remembered frequently. True remembrance of the Beloved is when everything else other than the Beloved is forgotten. There can be a possibility of the self loving the love for God or remembrance of God more than loving God Himself.
4) Loves the Quran, the Messenger s.a.w. and all else established by God
5) Avid desire for intimacy with Him, looks forward to frequent night vigils over mindless chatter and excessive sleep.
6) Worship becomes easy, no burdensomeness in worship, especially the supererogatory ones.
7) Loves all the devout servants from amongst the saints, pious people, companions, People of the House etc….

Imam Ghazali himself stated that such signs are not exhaustive, there are other signs as well. The love of him who has some of them in him is in accordance to what amount of that love he has.

Two degrees of love:

First Degree: to love another person for some reason linked with him. It could be loving a teacher for having taught the religion.

Second Degree: to love another solely for the sake of Allah without having any expectations. It is by reason of obedience to God and the love of Him that he loves the other. Moreover because he is a servant of God, created by God…such a love is divine.